Legislative staff and the State Construction Department briefed the Select Committee on School Facilities on what revenue sources school districts may use to enhance or maintain facilities beyond statewide adequacy standards.

Matt Wilmarth and Catherine Camarotti of the Legislative Service Office summarized district revenue avenues reviewed in a committee memo: major maintenance, special reserve funds established under Wyo. Stat. § 21-13-504 and Wyo. Stat. § 16-4-105, bond proceeds (with a statutory sinking fund requirement), proceeds from sale of district real property, a one-mill recreation levy in certain jurisdictions, private contributions and federal Impact Aid. LSO noted statutory ambiguity about whether districts may maintain multiple special reserve funds under both statutes and flagged the sale-of-real-property statutes as unclear about whether proceeds are local or state remedies.

Camarotti reviewed historical transfers from general funds into capital project and special reserve accounts (fiscal years 2009–2024). The data show millions in transfers but do not identify the specific purposes of those transfers (LSO obtains only account‑level routing data). LSO also summarized 2025 Senate File 156, which proposed restrictions on whether operating funds can be transferred to capital purposes; the bill was postponed indefinitely and staff stressed the law does not currently prohibit some transfers.

Department staff described their role: the State Construction Department calculates, distributes and authorizes major maintenance funding and confirms project eligibility during district planned-work-order review. Project managers verify whether requested work aligns with major maintenance rules and facility plans; districts submit 4,000–5,000 major maintenance requests annually, the department said, and staff are reconciling older planned work orders that were submitted preemptively.

Public commenters pressed several related points: the Sweetwater County facilities director urged allowing major maintenance funds to cover workforce training and updating procurement thresholds (current informal bid limits were said to cause delays); industry and cooperative purchasing representatives asked the committee to clarify procurement statutes to enable greater use of cooperative contracts; several school facility directors described enhancements such as pools, synthetic turf fields and CTE labs that districts may fund locally and said those enhancements expand program access.

Committee members asked whether major maintenance funds could be used to build new enhancements; staff and district witnesses said the statutory intent and practice is not to use major maintenance for new construction and that extensive audit and departmental approvals would catch attempted misuse. The department stated it can withhold next‑year major maintenance funds if a district misapplies funds inappropriately and that project managers track expenditures by building and uniform-account codes.